Woman seriously injured by broken bat at Red Sox game

Next up will either be rubber bats or plexi-glass shields around stadium like hokey arenas

'It was a lot of blood': Fan suffers 'life-threatening' injuries after getting hit in head by broken bat at Red Sox-A’s game (VIDEO)
BY Jaime Uribarri , Jason Molinet
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Friday, June 5, 2015, 9:01 PM
Updated: Saturday, June 6, 2015, 12:35 AMFenway Park medical staff carry an injured fan away on a stretcher after she's hit by a broken bat.
A woman suffered life-threatening injuries at a Boston Red Sox game Friday night when a broken bat that got sawed off at the handle by a pitch flew into the stands at Fenway Park and hit her in the face.

The Red Sox-A’s game continued for one more batter in the second inning and then was halted for several minutes. The unidentified victim was taken away on a stretcher through the infield after the barrel end of the bat A’s third baseman Brett Lawrie swung hit the woman sitting in the second row near third base.

Lawrie’s bat splintered after a pitch by Red Sox starter Wade Miley. The victim was just beyond the protective screen that guards fans behind home plate when she was struck at about 7:40 p.m.

“It hit on the forehead to the top of the head ... it was a blunt trauma and it was a lot of blood. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much blood,” spectator Alex Merlas, who was sitting nearby, told The Boston Globe.

A stunned silence gripped Fenway and the gory scene registered on players’ faces as they watched first responders render emergency care.

Video from the stands showed the woman covered in blood and screaming in pain as she was carried away on the stretcher. An officer was seen clutching a child in his arms, believed to be with the woman, while standing on the field as she was aided.

She was taken to Beth Israel Hospital with “life-threatening” injuries, Boston police said.

One fan sitting next to the woman ripped his shirt off and used it to stanch the bleeding from the woman’s face.

“She seemed in shock, she was not aware of what was going on, pushing help away,” witness Arvald Karp told the Globe. “She was pushing the towel away, and she was out of it.”

Another witness at the stadium tweeted about the “awful” scene in the stands.

"You try to keep her in your thoughts and, hopefully, everything's all right and try to get back to the task at hand. Hopefully everything's OK and she's doing all right," Lawrie said after the game.

"I've seen bats fly out of guys' hands in(to) the stands and everyone's OK, but when one breaks like that, has jagged edges on it, anything can happen."

Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesMedical personnel remove a fan injured by a broken bat in the second inning. Larry Lucchino (r.), President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, was also on the scene.
Brian MacPherson, Red Sox beat writer for the Providence Journal, was one of many people at the game to report that the victim had lost a tremendous amount of blood.

“It was clear it was bad when another fan stripped off his shirt to apply (pressure) to the injured fan’s head,” MacPherson tweeted.

Batted balls injure 1,750 fans at big league games each year, Bloomberg has reported. Just one fan has died from getting struck by a foul when a 14-year-old boy killed by a line drive off the bat of Manny Mota at Dodger Stadium in 1970, according to baseball researchers.

Concerned about a rash of flying broken bats and the danger they posed, Major League Baseball studied the issue in 2008 and made a series of changes to bat regulations for the following season.

Multi-piece bat failures are down approximately 50 percent since the start of the 2009 season, MLB spokesman Michael Teevan said.

At least 21 fans have died in falls at baseball stadiums since the larger venues began to debut in the 1960s, according to David Weeks, co-author of “Death at the Ballpark.”

Charles Krupa/AP"I've seen bats fly out of guys' hands in(to) the stands and everyone's OK, but when one breaks like that, has jagged edges on it, anything can happen," Oakland Athletics' Brett Lawrie said.
Shannon Stone, a 39-year-old Texas firefighter, fell to his death from the left field stands reaching for a ball thrown by Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton in 2011.

The National Hockey League adopted netting behind each goal at arenas after 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil’s death. The girl was hit in the head by a puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game in 2002.

Don't know if this happened here, but when I go to ballgames, there are so many people oblivious to the action on the field. Add cellphones into the mix and the fact that most people I see in the really close seats don't give a shit about baseball....it's going to keep happening.
That said, I hope none of this applies to her and that she recovers.

I have gone to tons of baseball games. From MA. so was Red Sox Fan..Then became Mets fan. I have been to spring training games also. A bat came flying at us and luckily we saw it coming. I used to love to sit close to third base or first base side, but I've seen too many people get hurt by being hit by a ball or bat..Those babies are coming at you fast..

Yup. People need to stay alert. They tell you right off the bat before the game. But noooooooooooooo, people in the good seats are eating, drinking, texting, yakking with their friends.....
The knee-jerk reaction so prevalent today will be for MLB to order netting around the entire lower levels in every park.

My friends brother played in the majors. We made the trip to Fenway several times. Great seats in the first 10 rows between home and third every time we went. You are close to the action.That was pre smart phone days.
You don't see a tv shot of the crowd without 1/3 of the 'fans' staring at their phones these days. I'm surprised more fans are injured.